Retelling of the ancient King Lac Long Quan (ca. 2800 BC) and his wife Au Co, who separated and divided their 100 sons evenly between them; Lac Long Quan's eldest son, Van Lang, renamed himself Hung Vuong and allegedly became the king of the first Vietnamese dynasty.

Water puppetry was a court entertainment in Vietnam as early as the Ly (1010-1225) and Tran (1226-1400) dynasties, but originated even earlier as a rural, communal spectacle in the Red River Delta of northern Vietnam. The narratives, whether historical or fablic, generally center around agriculture, farming lifestyles, and the histories of rural people.